The Seventy forth annual hunger games
by Rose Valerie
Summary: Through chance James and Lily are cast as District twelve tributes into the seventy-forth hunger games. What will happen? A tale of Love, loss and finding yourself.
1. Chapter 1

It was like any reaping Lily Evans remembered.

The young capitol woman, named Merope Naysmith, with shockingly purple hair stood on district twelve's stage. Beside her were two enormous glass bowls which reflected the sunlight on the slim white paper slips nestled inside. Today a tribute would be drawn from each bowl- one boy and one girl.

Lily stood at the back with the girls her age. She was seventeen, but quite short for her age. She was one of the few girls in district twelve with long red hair and green eyes, an unusual combination which would usually have made her a target for Cray, the head peace keeper. Luckily Lily's family had never become so desperate.

Across from her she could see the boys- right at the back stood James Potter, who was seventeen also, with her group of cronies. Honestly, all the girls in district twelve (and some of the women) acted like he and Sirus Black were some kind of giant heros and they lusted after them like crazy. Lily had never been attracted to any of these types- as far as she was concerned they were arrogant show offs.

James caught her eye from across the town square. "Hey, Evans!" he yelled over the chatter of the children. Lily gave him a stony glare before turning away from him and his friends- the marauders, as they ridiculously called themselves.

Merope Naysmith was now speaking into the microphone. "Welcome, Welcome to the seventy forth annual Hunger Games!" she said, in that strange capitol accent. "Today we will one courageous young man and woman will be drawn as tributes to partake in this year's Hunger Games! Isn't this exciting!"

Merope talked with an overly bright voice- she always had. Lily glared up at her, although she knew it would be for Merope to see her in such a large crowd. The people from the Capitol didn't seem to get it. They didn't seem to understand that to the people from the districts, the Hunger Games weren't an excitement or a privilege. They were a death sentence. Lily hated the capitol for this.

"Ladies first!" Merope cried, placing her long manicured fingers into the girl's bowl. Her hands scrabbled around a bit before pulling out a slip of paper that had been folded in two. Lily's eyes were fixed on the paper, as she prayed silently in her head for it not to be her, or any of her friends. "Lily Evans!" Merope called.

For a moment there was a disbelieving silence. Then every person in the square turned to stare at Lily. She felt shocked and exposed, she could hardly believe it. You saw people called up for the Hunger Games, but it was never something you dreamed would happen to yourself.

On shaking legs she walked up to the stage. For a moment Lily forgot about everyone in the square, she just walked up in disbelief. As suspected, no one volunteered for her. There was no one. Lily was quiet and withdrawn, and had almost no close friends. They exchanged mindless small talk, but it was never anything more than that. Petunia was twenty-one and too old for the games. Even if she was in the reaping, Lily couldn't be sure Petunia would've volunteered.

"Well done, Lily," Merope beamed. "And now, the boys…."

Merope's hand groped around the bowl before slowly drawing out another slip of paper. "Sirius Black!"

Lily groaned. Not him. She didn't want to be with Black or any of the marauders.

"No!" suddenly the deep masculine voice of James Potter rung out in the silent square. "I volunteer! I volunteer as a tribute."

Sirius stared at James, in disbelief. They were best friends, but he hadn't expected this. "No, James, you can't," the whole crowd heard the emotion in his voice.

"The rules of the Hunger Games clearly state that a volunteer is allowed, but the previously drawn tribute cannot re enter. Mr. Potter please join me!" Merope smiled again, trying- and failing- to keep a light atmosphere.

James Potter stepped up onto the stage beside Lily. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the tributes of district twelve for the seventy-forth Hunger Games!"

The whole crowd applauds, but simply because it is expected. Lily looked over at James. He wasn't crying, as so many others often did, but he was white and shaking. James wasn't looking at Sirius, but staring straight ahead, determination etched onto his face.

Then they were being ushered into the Justice building.


	2. Chapter 2

"How do you say goodbye to everyone you love in just an hour? How do you watch as your family walks away, knowing you'll never see them again?" these were the things that went through Lily's mind as she was pushed towards the justice building.

James and her were led into two small separate rooms.

Lily had only ever been inside this building once, and that was to collect a medal for her father's bravery. Last year he had been killed in a mine explosion, she still had nightmares about it.

It didn't take long before Petunia and her mother burst into the tiny antechamber. It looked like they had wanted to say something, but at the sight of Lily's face they fell silent. Petunia looked down at Lily, and then burst into tears.

Lily sat there, numb, whilst her older sister- her usually withdrawn, stern older sister, sobbed over her shoulder. Petunia sounded like a wounded animal, as she sobbed, letting everything out about how much she truly cared about her sister.

When she straightened up, Petunia was dry eyed. From her dress pocket she withdrew a single golden bangle with a leaf pattern etched round it. "H-have this. Please," she stammered, handing the trinket to her sister. "It traditionally passes to the eldest woman in the family line, but I want you to have it."

Lily accepted the bangle. She could feel her eyes beginning to well up too, but was determined to stay strong- for her mother and her sister's sake. On the train to the Capitol, she could lock herself in a room, and sob as much as she wanted.

Lily suddenly let go of Petunia's hand, and gripped her mother's. "Promise me you'll stay strong? You have to move on, and forget me now. Promise me you'll find a job, and keep earning money to support yourself. Promise me!"

For the first time her mother looked up, her eyes began to fill with tears. "Oh, Lily," she sobbed, caressing her daughter's face, "You look so much like your father. I promise."

"Petunia, good luck withVernon. I wish you two ever lasting happiness, I'm sorry I couldn't get to know him better." Lily managed a small smile.

Petunia nodded, her brown hair bobbed up and down slightly, before she ran out of the room.

In a few minutes time two burley guards came and prised her mother off her, and Lily was left alone, as she watched her mother vanish from her life forever.


	3. Chapter 3

This wasn't how Lily had ever imagined a train. She'd seen pictures in books, and heard things from people in the village but she had always pictured some kind of huge noisy contraption. This train was sleek and silent, it sat on the tracks glinting in the fading evening light. It was a death train- a train that would take Lily away from her previous life.

James Potter followed her inside. The train had thick carpets, and gold doorknobs and crystal chandeliers. Lily had never seen anything like it.

Once inside the main carriage they sat down on comfortable armchairs. There was a love seat in the corner of the room, that James (despite going to his death) had begged Lily to sit on with him. She'd promptly sat on the smallest armchair so there was no chance of Potter invading her personal space. Lily felt barely up to talking, let alone dealing with _his _antics.

Merope entered shortly after, her stiletto heels clinking on the polished wooden floor. "Now," she beamed in that strange Capitol accent, "Your mentor is going to see you in a moment….we need to talk strategy right away, of course."

Strategy. Of course. Lily hadn't even thought about the games. Now, the true reality was beginning to hit her at Merope's statement. She could feel the panic rising up inside her, almost like it was cutting off her oxygen supply. She would have to kill people. She would watch people her own age die.

Suddenly it seemed too much. The capitol had no right to take everything from her. Lily stood up and not caring ran out of the room. As she did, the she knocked over a glass vase standing on a corner table. "THAT WAS AUTHENTIC!" was the last thing Lily heard Merope bellow, before she dashed out of the room.

There were so many rooms along this corridor, Lily wasn't sure where she was going, because everything was becoming blurry now. Eventually her shaking finger found the door knob of one of the doors, and she let herself into the small bedroom. She clicked the lock shut, and slumped against the door.

The tears were coming hard and fast now. Everything she'd been bottling up since this morning was being let out. She didn't try to hide it, she screamed and cried as though she would not live again- and she wouldn't really. It was all very well trying to survive the Hunger Games, but there were careers who'd been training since they could walk. Girls from District Twelve didn't win the Hunger Games.

After some time Lily became aware of someone banging on the door. At first she cared not who it was, but as her racking sobs slowed, she became aware that it was James Potter. No doubt he had come to gloat, or to tease her or make some kind of snarky wise crack. She let him in anyway.

Potter, surprisingly said nothing. Lily stood and waited for him to say something. She knew what a state she must look- with a hopelessly tear stained face, puffy red eyes and a runny nose. James eyed her for a few seconds, and their eyes locked before he swallowed and said, "You're not the only one."

"What?" Lily replied in a mixture of curiosity and sarcasm.

"I feel the same. I'm sure all the tributes do right now. I left behind a mother and a father."

Lily nodded, and suddenly she felt ashamed. "I-I don't know what happened," she turned away from James, fearing she would start to cry again. "Everything just…came out."

"I know, but it's important you don't show any weakness. Our mentor isn't great- he's always drunk. C'mon I'll help you get cleaned up."

Normally Lily would've objected, but she let James help her wash her face and brush her hair. By the time she'd finished and was ready for dinner she looked almost as if it had never happened.

"Potter…." Lily hesitated, before correcting herself, "_James_ is Merope still angry?"

He shook his head, before taking her hand. And because Lily appreciated any friendly gesture she was going to get in her last days, she let him take it.


	4. Chapter 4

"The Capitol looks like a strange, strange place," James mumbled absent mindedly as he gazed out of the grimy train window.

Lily looked out at the people on the platform. She was surprised by the sheer number of them- people everywhere, waving flags and banners, wearing t-shirts with the number 74 emblazoned onto them. _Seventy four-_ that number had cropped up in Lily's dreams last night.

It hadn't exactly been a nightmare; Lily was lying in a meadow, which seemed peaceful at first. She was surrounded by rabbits which seemed innocent at first, but then they bared sharp fangs at her. The number seventy four drifted everywhere and swirled around her, and all the while a cool female voice was saying "Kill or be killed….."

Lily shuddered as she remembered the dream, and turned to look out at the Capitol people. Her first impression was that they were freaks. She'd never seen anyone who looked quite so strange, and to see thousands upon thousands at once was overwhelming. They had multi-coloured hair, purple eyes, puffy lips, strange patterned faces and wore strange clothes that almost seemed to have a life of their own.

The train was stopping now, and Lily and James left with Merope and their mentor, Haymitch, following behind.

Next thing Lily knew, she was inside, separated from Merope, Haymitch and James. She was lying on some kind of narrow bed, and strange people peered down at her naked body. Lily, feeling horribly exposed as they pulled out her hair and applied powders to her face, tried to struggle, but they told her to "just relax, relax…" Someone jabbed something sharp into her arm and she felt instantly relaxed.

The next thing she know she woke up on another bed inside another tiny room, completely alone. She sprung up, horribly conscious that she was wearing some kind of dress which had no back to it. It felt as though she'd been completely plucked- like a bare chicken hanging up in the hob. Lily's hands flew to her hair and face, her fingers probing, checking to see if everything was still in tact. What had they done to her? Blown up her lips, changed the shape of her nose? Or drawn strange designs all over her?

Panic immediately began to set in. Where was she? Why was she alone? Was anyone coming back for her? Lily began to pace frantically.

The fear she'd always held of being alone stemmed from one time when she'd lost her father in the woods. Lily must've been about six or seven years old, and she'd only ever been into the woods a few times. Somehow they'd been separated- Lily had frantically ran in the wrong direction looking for her father, unknowingly putting an even greater distance between them. It only took her father twenty minutes to find her, yet to Lily's childhood mind it seemed a lot longer.

A tall, skinny man walked into the room, making Lily jump and look up at him. The newcomer was about six foot tall, but seemed different from the other capitol people she'd so far encountered. His clothes were simple and plain, instead of loud and obnoxious. The only thing that remotely showed his background was the light streaks of gold above his eyes, and even then they were tiny.

"Who are you?" Lily asked, terrified- and her voice must've shown it.

"It's alright- don't be afraid," the man said, placing a hand on her shoulder, "I'm Cinna, your stylist for the Hunger Games."

Lily had heard about Stylists and seen their past work on television in previous Hunger Games. It was their job to dress up the tribute for the opening parade and the interviews.

"So, you're here to make me look pretty?" Lily asked, scornfully. She'd never thought much of people who got paid for dressing up children about to go to their deaths.

Cinna grimanced. "I'm here to help you make an impression."

"Oh…." was all Lily could say to this.

Cinna began to pace around her, behind her and Lily was extremely conscious that he could see her behind. Cinna made no comment though, and although she found this extremely unnerving, Lily realised that Cinna, being a stylist (even though he was new) must be used to this.

"So what's the costume?"

"I've got a few ideas lined up," Cinna murmured, still distracted by eying every part of her.

Lily took this as a bad sign; the tributes from the districts were always dressed in costumes representing the key area of their district. District twelve was coal mining, and usually the tributes were dressed in some kind of awful black getup with a headlamp. One year they'd even been dressed naked covered in coal dust. Lily dreaded her costume.

Cinna led her down a hallway, which was packed with strange people rushing everywhere. Lily tried to get a sense of their bearings, but it was impossible. The place was huge- there were no windows, so she couldn't see the landscape at all.

Lily suddenly remembered the bangle Petunia had given her, and automatically her hands sprung to her wrist as she felt for it. Relieved she realised it was still there- as least the bizarre people who'd plucked out her body hairs had had the courteously to leave that alone.

They arrived in a much larger room- and Lily realised this must be Cinna's personal workspace. It was filled with rails upon rails of clothes, there were clothes strewn on the floor, along with shoes neatly laid in a row and boxes upon boxes of makeup. Everything made Lily's head spin- if this was just one stylist's collection, what did James's stylist have?

They arrived at the end of the long room, where Cinna handed her a dress. It was made from a black floaty fabric with many layers.

Cinna pointed to a changing room, and Lily walked inside, drawing the curtain around her.

There was a large mirror- and the first thing she did was examine what they'd done to her. She threw off the hospital gown and stood completely naked in front of the mirror. They'd plucked all her leg hair and underarm hair, and changed the shape of her eyebrows. Lily was especially vigilant about checking herself for the strange designs permanently drawn onto the skin or surgical alterations. With relief, she found there was none.

Once she'd changed into the dress she examined herself in the mirror. The dress was alright- it seemed to emphasise what little curves she had, but Lily still wasn't sure how it represented coal mining. Still, it was better than being naked and covered in dust.


End file.
